Six Chamber Hoedown

My random prompt was “A twin joystick game where you obey the loudest wasteful gunfighters.” The first game type that came to my head was a dual joystick shooter, but I decided to play with the prompt a little. A little more brainstorming, and I found a concept that’d mix the theme and gameplay together more tightly and in a funny way:

A game patterned after those scenes in old westerns where one guy says “Dance!” and shoots at the other guy’s feet. Mix that with twin joysticks, and you get a DDR-style game about jumping over shots.

I took some inspiration from the old Ballad of Black Mesa video and decided to create a song made entirely out of gun percussion.

Six Chamber Hoedown took about 10 days to make in Game Maker. I learned a lot about using Game Maker, and overall, I’m pleased with what I created. It might be fun to revisit it and make more involved levels, but I think what I have now stands well on its own.